Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

[convergent]

I have a 17' Fish and Ski and there is no cigarette lighter on the boat. Its kind of small, and we are planning to get a 2 person towable tube. I am imagining that this is going to be kind of a pain to carry when we aren't using it, so would like to keep it deflated unless we are using it. Does anyone make an inflater that I can just tap into the boat's trolling battery with? I would almost never be doing trolling and tubing on the same trip, so draining that battery to inflate and deflate wouldn't be a big deal. So I guess the simplest would be just to clip it to the battery, or if I wanted to get fancy I could try and find a connector for my trolling motor jack to wire into the inflater. Anyone make one designed for this, or will should I just cut the cigarette lighter adapter off a regular one and make my own cable?

 

[Lrider]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

You can adapt just about any 12 volt inflater to your system just find a place to mount it

 

[lncoop]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

You can buy a little adapter for five or ten bucks that will get you there. It has the alligator clips on one end and a female plug on the other. They're available pretty much anywhere.

 

[Lrider]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

Hate alligator clips - they make sparks and I think sparks are the last thing you want on your boat

IMHO

 

[convergent]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

OK... a little googling and your help here and I've found an inflater to do what I want. It actually comes only with alligator clips because it draws too many amps for a cigarette lighter. Now, the other idea I had... use my trolling motor receptacle to connect it. I have on my bow a Motor Guide trolling motor and receptacle where it plugs in. Trolling motors draw more amps than my air pump, so this should work perfect if I can find the plug. Searching around I can find places that sell the receptacle, but I haven't been able to find the cable/plug. Any one have an idea where I might find that at? This could end up working perfect if I can find that. If not, I'll just plan on attaching it to the battery permanently in the stern. Either will work... just thought the trolling receptacle idea was kind of slick.

 

[Lrider]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

Great idea (don't throw away the trolling motor, nice feature if you want to sell later) go to the trolling motor MFG for replacement parts you will find the plug there

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

If it were me I would just install a power port(cig lighter socket) and be done with it. Very easy to do and once finished you will have options other than the inflator to plug into it if need be, phone, vacume, inflator, ipod charger etc. I think the convenience would be worth it alone otherwise you will be messing around with clips, sparks, etc in the bilge every time. I would wire it with its own wire and fuse then you can use it even if the ign. is off.

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

Didn't see the post about too many amps. That must be one heck of an inflator to draw more than a cig lighter would. I would look around a bit at different inflators you dont need a compressor just something to blow up tubes. I use a little vaccume that doubles as a inflator its small stowes easy does an acceptable job as a vaccume and inflator. Look at the air bed inflators some are dc driven and will blow up a huge bed in like 5 min. and they are not much bigger than a softball.

 

[convergent]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

Thanks for the ideas. This is a relatively small inflater... just pumps quickly I believe. I definitely won't be getting rid of the trolling motor... I fish more with the boat than I tube... I was just saying that I would be unlikely to do both on the same trip to the lake. Therefore, drawing down the trolling motor to inflate towables wouldn't be a big deal. The trolling motor plugs into a panel on the bow, and that would just be a convenient spot to store and inflate since the whole area under the fishing platform on the bow is storage. Upon further investigation, I don't know that this receptacle is specific to Motor Guide. The plug end looks to be attached to the Motor Guide cable under shrinkwrap, and not original... so the receptacle probably came in the boat. Its a 3 prong 12V receptacle... not sure why its 3 prongs for 12V, but that's what it is. Any ideas how I can find out more about this receptacle? I've found some 3 prong plugs for around $10, but no idea if they are the same. I've also found some for about 5 times that which would be silly. I may take a trip to West Marine and see if they have anything like this.

 

[J. Howard]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

The inflator that I have is not meant to be plugged in while inflating. I charge it up at home plugged into the wall (also has an optional cig lighter attachment) and then just bring it on the boat with me when I want to inflate my tubes. On a single charge, I can inflate a couple of decent-size tubes.

O'Brien 12-Volt Inflator

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

I agree with hard wiring a cigarette plug into the boat. The plug kit costs maybe 8 bucks and then you've got something universal. And I've never seen an inflater that drew more than an amp which is well within the limits of a lighter plug. Mine is similar to that Obrien above, but mine has a 12v lighter plug. I've also got one that runs on D cell batteries that can easily handle a couple of tubes. Are you sure you're reading the amperage right on the inflater, I'm thinking there shouldn't be any worries here.

 

[convergent]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

I may end up doing a cigarette lighter adapter at some point, but probably not for this. I did re-check the pump and the specs say 28 amps. I have had pumps in the past that took a long time to pump things up so this one shouldn't have that problem! http://www.jetlogic.com/airhead/ahp12hp.php Perhaps its overkill, but we'll give it a try and see. Because of the size of the boat, and because we are trailering to the lakes, its conceivable that we'd inflate and deflate several things in one outing. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[Lrider]

Re: Looking or an on-boat inflater to pump up towables

cigarette lighter adapter

just one more electrical connection to get wet, I removed the fuse for the lighter on my Harley just because of that